Virginia

Body of Child Swept Out to Sea While Walking on N.C. Beach With Mother Found

Wesley Belisle's family was on vacation from New Hampshire when tragedy struck

What to Know

  • A boy walking on the beach with his mother in the Outer Banks was hit by a wave and swept out to sea, officials say.
  • The Coast Guard searched for 4-year-old Wesley Belisle for hours last week and then suspended their search.
  • Belisle's body was found Monday morning on a beach about 35 miles north.

The body of a 4-year-old boy who was swept out to sea while walking on the beach with his mother on the Outer Banks has been found, officials say. 

The body of Wesley Belisle was found at 7:40 a.m. Monday on Carova Beach, the Kitty Hawk Police Department said on Facebook. Carova Beach is about 35 miles north of where Belisle disappeared. 

Information wasn't available immediately on who found the child's body. 

Belisle's family was visiting the Outer Banks on vacation from New Hampshire. 

Belisle and his mother were walking on the beach in Kitty Hawk on Wednesday when a wave hit the child, the U.S. Coast Guard said in a statement. His mother "lost sight of him in the surf."

The Coast Guard searched for the boy by helicopter and by boat, covering 130 square nautical miles. After several hours, they suspended their search.

Locals went to the beach to see if they could help, WAVY-TV reported

A man who lives in Chesapeake, Virginia, about 70 miles north, took his powered paraglider down to the beach to search for the boy. 

"It was on my mind when I went to bed, and it was on my mind when I woke up, so I was like, why not?" Jonathan Jernigan told WAVY

Neighbors laid out seashells in the shape of a heart on the beach and said they were sending their love to the family. 

"We hope that the outpouring of compassion and offers of support, thoughts and prayers to the Belisle family from people all over the world can bring them some amount of solace in this time of tremendous grief," Kitty Hawk Police Chief Joel C. Johnson said in a statement. 

Belisle's family is making arrangements to have the child's body transported to New Hampshire, police said. He was their only child.

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